Brexit was the betrayal of the young by the old

Brexiting. A series on being English. #16

If the Brexit referendum were held in 2024, the Remain vote would outnumber the Leave vote by at least 4 million, not including the people who regret having voted for Brexit. If the latter were included, an estimated 70% would vote for Remain.

It was the generation over 50, the baby boomers and society builders born between 1946 and 1976 and the older folks who voted for Brexit while the people born after that voted for Brexit.

Since, 2.8 million Brexit voters have died. The difference in 2016 was 1.3 million in favour of Brexit.

Brexit is about 'the cut'. Or why complaining about Brexit damage makes no sense to Brexiteers

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 14

If your thoughts about the possible causes of Brexit are becoming too entangled, you can understand it in one simple phrase that includes everything: Brexit is an application of the principle of 'the cut' in English culture. The idea that continentals would be equal or even above English people was too much to bear for the vast majority of the English. That is what caused Brexit and nothing else. 

There are a lot of British blogs and vlogs talking about the economic and political damage of Brexit. They try to prove Brexit was wrong and do that by showing where the pain of Brexit is being felt. This makes no sense because Brexit was not about economics or politics. Which is why the mainstream media are not reporting on Brexit damage and Brexit problems, or, otherwise, simply put the blame on the EU.It could never be the English who are at fault, could it?

The downfall of trade and the virtual disappearance of the farmers and fishing industry, and other industries that may follow, is just collateral damage. The landed gentry may even regard the disappearance of farmers as a bonus: they now will have wider hunting grounds.😄

Definite proof of the cultural quirk that resulted in Brexit

 

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 13

Here is a short but definite proof of the element in English culture that, inexorably, led to Brexit. 

The British elite Remainers wanted to stay in the EU on the supposition, if not the conviction, that they could mould (AE: mold) the European Union to their liking. The British elite Leavers wanted to leave the EU because they thought changing it to their liking would prove to be impossible. Both the Remainers and the Brexiteers thought they knew better than the Continentals. It is this commonality of rock-solid belief in British superiority that created Brexit.

It is perfectly illustrated by a speech by David Cameron, Prime Minister of Great Britain from May 11, 2010, to July 13, 2016. Remember that David Cameron called the referendum on Brexit which was held on June 23, 2016.

In his speech on November 14^th, 2011, at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in London, David Cameron said:

How Boris and Dominic will win the war in spite of losing all battles

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 12

It is quite remarkable what is happening in the UK. A small elite, that sought to reduce taxes for itself, played in 2016 on the English cultural idiosyncratic idea that the English are superior human beings. They did this by claiming they were governed from Brussels (untrue) and that the English taxpayer had to furnish up 350 million pounds a week to Brussels (untrue) that could better be spent on the NHS (true but the money will be spent by reducing taxes for the elite and therefore also untrue).
Their problem is  that after almost three years, many in the UK have come to the understanding they have been lied to, and so there will not be a majority for Brexit any more. This is what causes the total deadlock.
The elite has won the first round

Brexit is an English affair, this blog vindicated by Bloomberg

Brexit is an English affair

Brexiting. A series on being English. #11

Today, Friday, April 12th, 2019, unexpectedly the assertions of this blog about England and Brexit were vindicated by Bloomberg no less, the most reliable source in the world.
Here it is: Click on the Bloomberg article

Brexit Exposes Painful Disconnect Between England and Britain

I have been attacked by English pseudo-pundits saying that the majority of the Britons voted for Leave at the Brexit referendum of June 23, 2016 (17.4 versus 16 million; a tie, really, but still a majority). Although technically true, it was the overpowering number of the old-fashioned English, living in England and longing for the glory days

The Oxford boys called "liars" by Macron, Theresa May thinks she is humiliated.

The Oxford boys called "liars" by Macron, Theresa May thinks she is humiliated.

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 09

What is happening in the negotiations between the British (actually, they are all English) and the European negotiators cannot be understood unless one knows two defining elements of the English culture.
The first peculiarity is that people who have gone through Eton and/or Oxford, like all the major players in Brexit, including Theresa May herself, cannot accept that they are not seen as God's gift to mankind.
The second defining element is

Brexit: "Straight as she goes, Mr. Baines"

 

Brexit: "Straight as she goes, Mr. Baines"

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 08

Today, 25 of June, 2018, Bloomberg  reports that European businesses have begun to anticipate a hard Brexit. The headline reads "EU Businesses Cut U.K. Ties on Brexit and Want Britain Punished". 

In my early posts on Brexit, nrs. 2, 4 and 7, I predicted the English would not give in to "them Contintentals". That was a year ago. As it stands, the prospects of a 'hard Brexit', i.e. without a negotiated exit deal, are higher than ever. It is not a negotiation tactic, it is English (not British) mentality. As predicted, a large part

English love Brexiting, especially when it hurts

English love Brexiting, especially when it hurts

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 07

(See corroboration below.)
English favour heroes that suffer. In real life and on film.
Wasn't The Charge of the Light Brigade in the Krimean War in 1854 the pinnacle of heroism? Aren't the existential losers like Mr. Bean, Monthy Python, Basil, Tommy Cooper, The Absolutely Fabulous immortal heroes of the screen?
The most favoured heroes of the English culture have a plus and a minus. They are safe to love

Impeachment at the root of Brexit, and the Dutch are to blame

Impeachment is at the root of Brexit and the Dutch are to blame

Brexiting. A series on being English. #06

There are striking parallels between Trumpian events in the USA, Mayan events in Great Britain and what happened in the 17th century in England. Only, the English have remained consistent in their forward motion on the time stream, while the Americans seem to back up against the current. Freedom and justice for all are not a natural given but have to be fought for constantly. We see these fights now emerging in the USA as a kind of cold civil war and in Great Britain, especially England, as Brexit, which is in essence a fight for freedom from continental supervision. And all this flows from a series of events in 1588 and 1689 that firmly established what it meant to be English.

The deepest roots of what it means to be English may be found in

Find your station in life. A reality check on the toffs.

A funny reality check on life with toffs

Brexiting. A series on being English. #05

As we have seen from earlier blog messages of mine in this series, the essence of the English class system is two-fold. The people that are 'in' want to keep lower-graded people 'out' of their class. At the same time, the ones who are 'out', except the monarchs and landed gentry (dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, barons and their ladies), are trying to get higher up by means of emulation of some class above them or, traditionally, by buying (men) or marrying (women) themselves into it. For foreigners, this is an odd game, and for English, it is a frustrating one.

Of course, one can never really emulate the next level without actually being there. The little secrets that distinguish one class from another, are

The superior English Mind (Jenny and her shotgun)

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 04

The superior English Mind (Jenny and her shotgun)

Nothing enrages conservative English people more than the idea that other people in the world may know better. The notion is scoffed at, laughed about, ridiculed. To an Englishman who considers himself well-educated (Oxford, Cambridge, Aberdeen and wanna-bees) that is simply inconceivable.
This conviction is ingrained so deeply in the English mind that 'a foreigner' is being considered an inferior being, just by the mere fact that he or she has not been born and raised in England proper. Anyone familiar with Agatha Christie's Poirot detective stories remembers how the English invariably put Poirot away as "a foreigner" and therefore, ipso facto, a person who, by his nature, is incapable of understanding what is going on.
During my studies in England, I stayed with some students in a country house run by an old lady who, in her younger and more vulnerable years, had been raised in India. There, she had learned to fend for herself and had become a good shot.

The emergence of the stiff upper lip

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 03

The emergence of the stiff upper lip

It may be hard to imagine when looking back from our 21st-century perspective, but before the 19th century, rationality and restraint were unusual traits with English people. It was the opposite of stiff upper lip which means to take it on the chin, or not letting on, keep calm and endure. To show one's emotions used to be considered interesting and good manners. For instance, like most of Europe, the English had held the French in high esteem as an example to be followed. All over Europe, the upper class spoke French and this was for a reason. The French had shown no restraint whatsoever. Its nobility never took the plight of their subjects into account and saw no bones in exploiting them ruthlessly. No wonder these subjects showed no restraint either when they started to unleash their wrath against the nobles in 1789.

More or less coincidentally, precisely at that moment in time, in English society a

Two fine factors defining English society

Two fine factors defining English society

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 01

English people entertain a superiority complex that goes back at least two thousand years. And they have corroborated it. Especially in the late 19th century when Britain undisputedly was the most powerful nation in the world, having dominion over the largest empire this planet had ever seen, comprising 25% of the landmass and population of Earth. (See map of 1901 below.) In 1810, English shipping tonnage was, at 700,000 metric tonnes, higher than that of Germany, France, Russia and The Netherlands combined. At its peak, just before WW I, almost half of all foreign investments by all nations combined, were British. In the 1890's Britain controlled 44% of all of the investment money in the world.

England used to be, and to a very large extent still is, run by people from Oxford University, politically, and Cambridge, scientifically, and from some lesser known universities like Aberdeen, more businesswise. For instance, all of the British prime ministers until this day (2017) have studied at Oxford. As people outside of England may have noticed, an English person coming from these